Iliescu, Ion(1930- ), Romanian statesman,
born in Oltenita and educated at Bucharest Polytechnic Institute and Moscow
State University. Iliescu joined the Union of Communist Youth in 1944, long
before the Communist Party was popular in Romania. Trained in electrotechnical
engineering and business administration, he made his career within the party
apparatus. He became secretary of the Central Committee of the Union of
Communist Youth in 1956 and a candidate member of the Central Committee
in 1965.

After Nicolae Ceausescu became party head, Iliescu experienced both the
advancement granted to Ceausescu's favorites and the subsequent dilution
of power Ceausescu imposed on those he feared. Iliescu successively became
first secretary of the Central Committee of the Union of Communist Youth
and minister of Youth Problems (1967) and a full member of the Central Committee
(1968). In 1971, however, he was deprived of all his positions except membership
in the Central Committee and was assigned to serve as regional party secretary
in Timisoara. In 1974 he assumed the same post in Iasi.

Iliescu became part of the group of formerly high-ranking officials disaffected
with the Ceausescu regime. Opposition action came to a head in 1989 when
a riot in Bucharest escalated, and Ceausescu was deposed and executed. Iliescu
immediately took charge, assuming leadership of the Democratic National
Salvation Front, the provisional government. In May 1990 he received 85
percent of the vote for president of Romania in the first free elections
held since the 1930s. Although Iliescu resorted to harsh measures to quell
an uprising following the election, he remained in power to oversee the
country's slow and uneven transition to parliamentary democracy.

In a 1992 runoff election, Iliescu was reelected with 61 percent of the
vote. He promised to continue market reforms, but at a slower pace; this
action caused others, especially the United States, to question his commitment
to democracy. It came at a time when unemployment had reached 9 percent,
health workers were striking for higher wages, and gasoline prices were
rising.